She sniffed and tossed her long locks in true Beyoncé style.
“I resemble that remark.”
“Jules, finish the story.”
“Okay, it was the groom’s grandfather who called to see if we were even interested. He gave me the briefest of details and said that if we were interested, we were to call Al—you see what I did there? Al and I, we’re on a first-name basis.”
I stared at the message. Taking on an event of any size for a major cruise line would be huge for us in terms of exposure. There was no doubt in my mind that I would return this call. And even less doubt that we would say yes to whatever this opportunity was.
“Thank you so much for the opportunity,” I said to Alfred Sanford one week later following the presentation I gave as I sat across from him at his desk. “You won’t be sorry.”
After the initial phone call and an initial meeting where he described his concept for the event, Juliet and I had gone into overdrive. We devised an event that featured cooking classes by a mix of chefs and food bloggers, and then created a PowerPoint presentation to show off our ideas. Mr. Sanford was so pleased that he bumped the plan up from the original cruise ship to the Ocean’s Essence, the largest ship sailing on the ocean.
“I’m sure we won’t,” he said, genially. He was a kindly man with receding graying hair and deep-set wrinkles around his eyes. Now THIS was the kind of guy I pictured with my mother, not ...
Stop.
I had promised myself that I wouldn’t be judgmental (well, more judgmental) of my mother’s blooming relationship. She was happy, and this Russell person seemed to be very nice to her. Besides, this was a moment to concentrate on my great new opportunity.
“I’ll send you the full amended project plan this afternoon based on the discussion we had today,” I said. He had made some minor tweaks and requests.
“That sounds perfect.”
I looked through the paperwork once more to see if I had any further questions.
“Mr. Sanford, how do I make reservations for a stateroom for myself, my business partner, and the featured chef?”
He looked pleased.
“Keira, I see that you already sound like a seasoned cruiser, referring to a stateroom instead of a cabin! I can see we made the right choice. Those reservations are made through my assistant, Sharla. Just let her know what you need.”
I smiled inwardly at his compliment of my knowledge. Apparently he didn’t research me as much as I had researched him. I had left no stone unturned in my own fact-finding!
“Keira, as part of the package, I’d like to offer you the ability to invite your own family as well. Just let Sharla know how many other staterooms you’ll need. Feel free to add four more rooms.”
I was stunned.
“That is so kind of you! Thank you so much!”
“No problem, my dear. As executives, we reserve some promotional space on every cruise, and I am using my discretion to offer mine to you.”
“Thank you so much!”
“Nonsense.” He waved off my thanks. “I saw how hard you worked on that wedding for my godchild. My wife and I want to thank you for the happiness you brought the couple and the rest of the family.”
Wow! Well, my mother always said to put your best effort into any job you do because you never know how it will affect you down the road. I doubt when she said it she thought it might eventually mean a free vacation for her.
We said our good-byes, and I exited his office. I maintained my businesslike composure as I walked to the elevator and punched in the number for the lobby of this downtown Denver high-rise. As soon as I reached the lobby, I calmly walked out of the building and down the street. The minute I turned the corner, I pulled out my phone, hit speed dial, waited for Alex to answer—and started to dance in glee!
“I got it, I got it, I got it!”
“Keir! That is so awesome! What is the actual deal? Did he tell you?”
“Duh. You know I didn’t leave there without every i dotted and t crossed.”
“Of course, what was I thinking?” I could picture her rolling her eyes. “So spill.”
I recounted the plan to her amid shrieks.
“The deal was sealed when I told him that you were the keynote chef. At that point, he couldn’t help but hire me!”
Alexandria’s chain of restaurants had exploded in popularity, and she had written a cookbook based on her brand of Italian comfort food. Now she was occasionally featured on the Food Network as well as the Today Show. She had been contacted to compete on Iron Chef and was ecstatic when she got to match knives with one of her idols, Bobby Flay.
“Ahh. I’m just a little Italian girl who cooks,” she said modestly. “Excuse me, can we get back to YOUR opportunity?”
“Oh, right. Me.”
“Could you just reach around the back of your own head and give yourSELF a whap, please?” she said with impatience.
Alex was the only person beside my mother who could see through my cool Ice Princess facade and know how vulnerable I am sometimes and how reluctant I am to talk about myself.
I plopped down on a nearby bench and confirmed the details of the project, interrupted only by her occasional “ohhh” and “cool.”
“So,” she teased, “will there be room for me to sneak Cam along for a second honeymoon?”
“That’s the best part,” I said. “Mr. Sanford said I could take family and that I could get extra staterooms.”
“WHAAAT!”
“I KNOW!”
“So, Cam and I can have a cabin? Wait ... You know I was totally joking, right? I wasn’t angling for a free vacation for him.”
“Stateroom, darling. Get the lingo right,” I corrected. “But, of course, you goof. I would definitely want you to be able to invite Cam along.”
“That’s awesome, Keira! Your mother, too?”
“Of course my mother,” I laughed. “I thought of something else, Alex. I don’t have a lot of family, so I thought my D’Agostino family should share in my wealth.”
“What? You mean Ma and Pop?”
“Do you think they could leave the plants and the nursery for a week?”
“Hmm. Well, they should. They never take a vacation.”
“Is there anyone who can cover for them for a week?”
“I know Anthony could, of course. My brother could run a dozen companies without thinking.” Alex’s older brother was the only one to have gone into the family business and had even branched out into landscape design.
“I was hoping Anthony and Celia could come, too. And Damian,” I said, referring to her other brother, the priest.
“Pop and Anthony out at the same time? I don’t know, Keira, that’s asking a lot.”
We pondered silently.
“You know what?” Alex said finally. “Pop will just have to agree if we get Ma to see the importance of a family trip, right? Cousin Joey is his right-hand man and can keep things going for a week.”
“Well, Alex, you know them better than I do. Just let me know how many staterooms I’ll need, along with cots for the kids. Sweetie, I know this won’t be much of a second honeymoon with the assorted offspring between you and Anthony along for the trip.”
“The kids would be okay,” she said, then stopped. “You know what? What do you think about this? Let’s make this an over-twenty-one trip. Anthony, Celia, Cam, and I can do a kid trip to Disney or something another time. We can see if Celia’s mother will take the little ones for this trip. They’d probably like that better anyway.”
“Oh, like that is a burden for her!”
Alex’s sister-in-law had a mother who not only didn’t mind when grandchildren and grand-cousins came to visit, she insisted on it. Anthony’s daughter had dubbed her warm and inviting home “Camp NannaPappa,” and the rest of the assorted tykes had adopted the name as well.
“Your mother is going to love this!” Alex said.
“Oh rats!”
“What. Oh.” Alex th
ought of the same thing I did.
“My mother will want her sweetheart Russell to come along, and I would not feel comfortable with them in the same stateroom, Ali.”
“Hmm.” Alex paused. “You know, Keira, you can’t be sure that they don’t stay together now.”
“Please, Alex.”
We both thought for a moment, then Alex had the best idea. “I know! He can share a room with Damian!”
That was the perfect solution. Except where would my mother stay? Before I could pose that problem, my resourceful friend rescued me again.
“That would make it easier for you. Your mother could share with Juliet, and you could have a stateroom to yourself that would be half sleeping quarters and half your office. You know you’d need that much room anyway.”
“That would be the ideal solution, wouldn’t it?” I said. “But do you think everyone will agree to the arrangements?”
“Keira, you’re offering everyone a free Caribbean cruise for a week. Who argues with anything after that?”
I pondered for a moment. She was right.
“Sweetie, you call your people, and I’ll talk to mine. In the meantime, I need to actually plan the business aspect of the cruise.”
“Fantastic, Keir. Come over later so we can talk about booking the chefs.” She paused. “Hon, is everything perfect now?”
Perfect. Everything solved. No problems.
“Mother, what is the problem? I’m offering you an all-expenses-paid cruise on the largest ship in the world!”
I was laying on the glider in the sunroom of our house with my hands wearily covering my eyes while my mother sat on a nearby lounge chair ostentatiously completing a crossword puzzle.
“No problem, dear. It’s a lovely offer,” she said.
It was as if she had taken out a big giant can of “tone” and lavishly painted the words she was saying with it.
“Then what is it?” I asked, picking up a small pillow and tossing it up and back.
She waited a moment, calmly laid her puzzle in her lap, took off her reading glasses, and began. My mother is nothing if not methodical.
“Well, Keira, look at it from my point of view. You offer me this trip, you tell me I can bring my friend, but then you direct me where he can sleep. Do I have it right?”
Uh-oh.
“Mother, are you telling me you are upset because of the sleeping arrangements?” Eek.
“No, Keira, I think they are perfect. I’m just upset because you came in and dictated it to me as if you think I don’t have the morals to figure it out on my own.”
Oh.
I stood up and went to the lounge chair where she sat, and scootched beside her. I hugged her and gave her a kiss.
“Mother, I’m sorry. I know you have your morals lined up. Who taught ME after all? I was just in organizational mode, I guess.”
She smiled and patted my knee.
“Oh, if anyone is organized, it’s you. And I guess it does my motherly heart good that you are keeping things proper. But the thought of you and Alexandria discussing my private life, well ... my goodness!”
I burst out laughing but composed myself when she gave me a look.
“Thank you so much for inviting Russ. He will probably be thrilled to share with Damian. They’ll make excellent roommates. You know the good father IS my favorite priest.”
“Oh, Mother, admit it. You know before he took Orders you would have loved to have snagged him as a son-in-law.”
“Well,” she picked up her crossword puzzle, “if I had to lose him to anyone, I guess I’m fine with losing him to that competition. Although, speaking of son-in-laws ...”
I pinched her cheek.
“All in due time, mama bear. How about you let me get through this tiny little cruise project before we have to worry about planning my wedding?”
“Mm-hmm,” she said, propping her stylish reading glasses back on her nose, ready to get lost once again in her puzzle. “Who knows? Cruises are supposed to be extremely romantic, you know. Maybe Mr. Right will be on deck waiting for you.”
Chapter Five
“Wow, this is the biggest boat I’ve ever seen!” Juliet tilted her head back and shaded her eyes from the sun as she attempted to take in the entire view of the behemoth before us.
“It’s a ship, Jules,” I corrected her. “A boat is the sleek little thing that we rent when we go up to Lake McConaughy for the day and waterski. And please move briskly. We have to sign in just like the other thousands of passengers, even if this is a working trip.
We had just been deposited from our cab at the dock at Ft. Lauderdale and marveled at the size of the Ocean’s Essence, which would be our home for the next week. Shipside porters checked our larger luggage with brisk efficiency, and then we joined our 5,500 new best friends in the walk toward the ship to complete the check-in process. Our guest chefs and bloggers would be checking in at different times at their convenience, but I had booked a shipboard meeting room for us to all gather and cement plans later that evening after the ship set sail.
“I hope all the chefs make it,” Juliet remarked, reading my mind.
“Did they all check in with you last night?”
“Yep. And the ones who didn’t contact me got a phone call or text FROM me. I made sure to be in touch with each one of them personally.”
The chefs and bloggers who had agreed to be the instructors for the seminars were paying their own way but had gotten a sizable discount. Many of them had never cruised before, so this was an exciting working vacation for them and one that offered them a lot of exposure. All of the pertinent information was in the packets we had distributed to them and was also posted on the login portion of our website. I was a big believer in backup plans.
“To be honest, I’m kinda more worried that the D’Agostinos won’t show on time,” I said. The clan had arrived in Ft. Lauderdale late the previous day, got in a bit of evening sightseeing, and attended a later Mass than we did this morning. Juliet had not yet witnessed “Hurricane D’Agostino.”
As if on cue, a rented minivan pulled up, and I could hear peals of laughter spilling from the windows coming from my favorite family.
“There she is!”
“Keira! Keira!”
Juliet and I stopped and waited for the various members of the D’Agostino family to exit the van and then sort out and check their luggage with the porters.
Alex hurtled her petite body at mine, nearly knocking us both over.
“Girlfriend! We are cruising! On the ocean!”
“Ali!” I laughed. “Calm down. Anyone who saw you would never believe that we see each other practically every day back home!”
“Or that you are a renowned chef who shouldn’t be acting as if she were fifteen years old,” added her brother Anthony as he joined us, giving me a hug and kiss. He introduced himself to Juliet with a hug and tweaked Alex’s ear. His attractive wife, Celia, joined us, arm in arm between Alex’s parents. Another round of greetings, introductions, and kisses followed. When I first met the D’Agostinos I couldn’t believe a family could be so huggy-kissy, but I got used to it and soon expected it. I quite enjoyed watching the calm, cool Juliet get caught up in the whirlwind.
“Where are Cam and Damian?” I asked, referring to the two least likely to be stragglers.
No sooner had I asked than they both appeared.
“Someone had to tip the porters,” explained Cam with a shake of his head.
“Oh, as if Pop didn’t take care of all that. You know that you two were just talking geek about the other ships around here!” said the sensible Celia with a wave of her hand.
“Caught us!” Damian had not lost his boyish charm even after his years in the priesthood.
Juliet had not said a word during any of these exchanges—quite a difference from her usual self.
“Come along, darling,” I grabbed her arm. “Didn’t I tell you last night that resistance is futile with the D’Ags? You WILL be assimilat
ed.”
The entire group laughed.
“Juliet, let’s go!” I said. “We need to meet my mother on the Lido Deck. SHE had the good sense to check in early!”
Our group moved through the remainder of the check-in procedure as a unit. Because Alex and I were part of the “entertainment,” we were able to bypass the normal line and go through the line that was reserved for first-class passengers.
“Are you sure we should be in this line?” Mr. D’Agostino asked with a tilt of his head, running his hand through his graying curls and blinking his blue eyes.
“Pop!” Alex’s exasperation was evident in her tone. “Keira and I are getting a little bit of special treatment.”
“Oh, does that make us your entourage, ma’am?” Anthony’s own blue eyes twinkled as he and his brother, both looking so much like their father, prepared to tease their little sister.
“Cam!” Alex appealed to her husband.
“Huh? What?” Cam looked up from the document he was completing, but I could tell he had heard the entire exchange. “Did you say something, sweetheart?”
I sighed as I watched the exchange and once again prayed inwardly that I would find a nice man like Cam.
As if she’d read my mind, Mrs. D’Ag put her arms around me and said, “Your fella is out there, Keira.”
“Oh, Mama D., I hope you’re right!”
“I know I’m right,” she asserted, fussing with the Peter Pan collar of my mint-green blouse as only a mother can. “You’ve been like a daughter to me since Alexandria brought you home from college, and I want the best for you as much as I do for my own little ball of fire and my boys.”
We both looked over at Alex and the “boys” engaged in a heated discussion.
I laughed and pointed, “You know I’ve never been as outgoing as Alex.”
She waved her hand and stopped me. “Stop that. You have a great personality. How else could you have run your business so well? Look at this event that you planned and the chefs you recruited.”
Love on the Lido Deck Page 4
